in film making in Australia. A thesis for AFTRS.

Surveys

Perseverance can actually be measured.

The Grit Survey measures the Character Strength of Perseverance

Angela Duckworth is the creator of The Grit Survey, which I came across during one of our modules on our Masters. We had to complete a survey at Authentic Happiness, the initiative developed by Dr Martin Seligman, Director of the Positive Psychology Center at theUniversity of Pennsylvania, and founder of positive psychology, a branch of psychology which focuses on the empirical study of such things as positive emotions, strengths based characters and healthy institutions.

The Grit Survey, assesses the tendency to sustain interest in and effort toward very long-term goals (Duckworth, Peterson, Matthews, & Kelly, 2007) and so of course similar to perseverance. The Grit Survey consists of 22 questions which the respondent answers by rating themselves ‘Not at all like me / A little like me / Somewhat like me / Mostly like me / Very much like me’ so a variation on the common 1-5 Leikert scale.

What is The Art of Perseverance?

It's a project that studies how filmmakers in Australia persevere during the process from development through funding, production, marketing and distribution and beyond.

The average film takes seven years to make. That's a lot of perseverance.

Over 40 (and counting) of Australia's top filmmakers and industry experts have been interviewed as to how they persevered in creating their film.

These insights are being passed onto the industry at large in the hope it inspires current and future filmmakers in Australia.

The documentary and eBook will be out in 2015 accompanied by a educational outreach program, and screening tour.

This website acts as a blog, a resource and as a forum for professional and emerging filmmakers, as well as industry professionals and in-fact anyone interested in entrepreneurialism, filmmaking and perseverance.